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MCAS Critics Ready To “Sprint” Toward 2024 Ballot

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:11:28 GMT

Attorney General Andrea Campbell ruled Wednesday that two proposed ballot questions related to the role of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) exam are legally sound, keeping open the possibility that Bay State voters could decide next fall whether passing the standardized test should remain a requirement to graduate high school here.The attorney general said both proposed questions — one filed by a Lexington mother and another offered by the Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA) — met constitutional muster, but sponsors of both questions have decided to combine forces behind the teachers’ union-backed proposal.The initiative would eliminate the requirement that a student pass the MCAS to graduate high school and instead would require that students complete coursework certified by their district “as demonstrating mastery of the competencies contained in the state academic standards in mathematics, science and technology, and ...

Boston Marathon purse to break $1 million with boost in para athlete divisions

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:11:28 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — The Boston Marathon will add two more para athlete divisions and boost prize money that will put the total Patriots’ Day purse above $1 million for the first time, organizers said Thursday.The Boston Athletic Association said its flagship race will welcome athletes classified with coordination impairments and intellectual impairments. Previous divisions for upper and lower limb impairment will be more inclusive, race organizers said.“We are always looking at ways to celebrate and reward athletic excellence,” BAA President and CEO Jack Fleming said in a statement. “Boston is a running city, and we’ve made it our goal to elevate Para athletes as they train and compete for the podium at our events, from the 5K through to the marathon.”In the first year after Bank of America replaced John Hancock as the main sponsor, first prize for its men’s and women’s wheelchair winners will rise to $40,000 from $25,000, with a $50,000 bonus for a course re...

Massachusetts ‘heat advisory’ peaks with near 100-degree heat index values, Boston faces ‘heat emergency’

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:11:28 GMT

The hot and humid weather is expected to persist into Friday, with the peak of the Massachusetts “heat advisory” Thursday afternoon as heat index values approach 100 degrees and as Boston faces a “heat emergency” on the first day of school.National Weather Service meteorologists were warning residents about the risk of heat exhaustion and heat illnesses amid this early September blast of brutally hot weather. The “heat advisory” remains in effect through Friday evening.“Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors,” the National Weather Service wrote in its advisory. “Young children and pets should never be left unattended in vehicles under any circumstances.“Take extra precautions if you work or spend time outside,” NWS added. “When possible reschedule strenuous activities to early morning or evening. Know the signs and symptoms of heat ex...

District attorney in Georgia election case against Trump and others seeks protections for jurors

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:11:28 GMT

By KATE BRUMBACK (Associated Press)ATLANTA (AP) — The Georgia prosecutor who has brought charges accusing former President Donald Trump and others of illegally trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the state is asking the judge in the case to take steps to protect jurors.The preemptory step by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis comes after the grand jurors who returned the 41-count indictment against Trump and 18 others were subjected to harassment when their information was posted online. It’s a reflection of the highly polarized feelings surrounding the criminal cases against the former president.Willis wrote in a motion filed Wednesday that the grand jurors’ information was posted “with the intent to harass and intimidate them.” Additionally, the motion said, the personal information of Willis, a Black woman, and that of her family and staff have been posted online ”intertwined with derogatory and racist remarks.”...

In Southeast Asia, Kamala Harris is at the center of White House efforts to counterbalance China

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:11:28 GMT

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — It took more than a day of flying, including two refueling stops, for Vice President Kamala Harris to reach this year’s summit of Southeast Asian countries. And once she arrived, she had less than eight minutes of public speaking time during two meetings. But in Jakarta’s cavernous convention center, adorned with billowing flowers and tropical plants for the occasion, Harris saw an opportunity to shape the future of United States foreign policy. In an interview with The Associated Press, the vice president said that Washington must “pay attention to 10, 20, 30 years down the line, and what we are developing now that will be to the benefit of our country then.”For her, that means working in Southeast Asia. Two-thirds of its population is under 35 years old. It’s the fourth-largest market for U.S. exports. One-third of global shipping travels through the South China Sea.“Think about it,” Harris said. This was her third trip to Southeast Asia since...

Convicted of embezzlement, former Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon is running again

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:11:28 GMT

BALTIMORE (AP) — More than a decade after being convicted of embezzling donated gift cards, a former Baltimore mayor has announced she’s again running for office.Sheila Dixon, who resigned as part of a 2010 plea agreement in the corruption case, penned an op-ed in The Baltimore Sun on Thursday apologizing for her past digressions and announcing her candidacy in the city’s 2024 mayoral race. This marks her third bid for mayor following two unsuccessful attempts since her own tenure ended in scandal.Dixon will go up against current Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott in the city’s Democratic primary. Scott is running for a second term.In December 2009, a jury found Dixon guilty of embezzlement for misusing gift cards that had been donated to City Hall for charity. Instead of using them to serve the poor, Dixon spent about $500 at Target and Best Buy to purchase things for her family and staff.Additional perjury charges against her were later dropped. Dixon served four years probation and co...

‘There’s no one to fill his shoes’: Journalist and author Peter C. Newman dies at 94

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:11:28 GMT

Veteran journalist and author Peter C. Newman, who held a mirror up to Canada, has died at the age of 94. He died in hospital in Belleville, Ont., Thursday morning from complications related to a stroke he had last year, which caused him to develop Parkinson’s disease, his wife Alvy Newman said by phone. “It’s a big loss for Canada,” she said. “He has no peers. There’s no one to fill his shoes. Who is there that’s an author and a journalist that can show Canada to themselves?”In his decades-long career, Newman served as editor-in-chief of the Toronto Star and Maclean’s, covering Canadian politics and business.Often recognized by his trademark sailor’s cap, Newman also wrote two dozen books and earned the informal title of Canada’s “most cussed and discussed commentator,” said HarperCollins, one of his publishers, in an author note.Newman was born in Vienna in 1929 and came to Canada in 1940 as a Jewish ref...

Biden will nominate a former Obama official to run the Federal Aviation Administration

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:11:28 GMT

President Joe Biden will nominate a former Obama administration official to lead the Federal Aviation Administration after his first choice withdrew March after running into opposition from Republican senators.The White House said Thursday that Biden will nominate Michael G. Whitaker, a former deputy administrator at the FAA, and currently the chief operating officer of a Hyundai affiliate working to develop an air taxi aircraft.Whitaker’s nomination had been expected for months, and Biden’s announcement was praised by several industry and labor groups.The FAA, which regulates airline safety and manages the nation’s airspace, has been run by back-to-back acting administrators since March 2022. The FAA faces a number of challenges including a shortage of air traffic controllers, aging technology, and alarm over close calls between planes at major airports. In addition, Congress is deliberating over legislation that will direct the agency’s operations for the n...

Donors pledge half a billion dollars to boost the struggling local news industry

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:11:28 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The MacArthur Foundation is leading a group of donors that have pledged $500 million to help the struggling local news industry, hoping to seed outlets that can make up for those that have closed or been hollowed out over the past two decades.While led by a $150 million donation by the journalism-focused Knight Foundation, the Press Forward initiative is focusing on the importance of news in communities and is bringing in funders whose primary mission hasn’t necessarily been journalism.“This is hugely important, both practically and symbolically,” said Tim Franklin, director of the Local News Initiative at Northwestern University’s Medill journalism school.The Carnegie Corp., the Democracy Fund, the Ford Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and MacArthur are among a group of 20 initial funders. (The Associated Press receives grant funding from several sources for some journalism coverage, as well.)Philanthropies that recognize the need to streng...

Ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir to enter Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:11:28 GMT

Decorated ice dance duo Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir and mixed martial arts star Georges St-Pierre were among the 2023 inductees named to Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame on Thursday.Randy Ferbey’s curling team, wheelchair basketball player Danielle Peers and softball player Phyllis Bomberry will also be inducted as athletes, with judo coach Hiroshi Nakamura and lacrosse pioneer Oren Lyons joining them as builders.This year’s inductees were announced at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Que., where the Hall’s artifact collection is now housed.At their induction ceremony Oct. 19, the class of 2023 will join over 700 people named to the Hall since it was established in 1955.Since 2019, inductees have received the Order of Sport from the Hall for their role in building Canada through sport.Ice dancers Virtue of London, Ont., and Moir of Ilderton, Ont., won two Olympic gold medals and one silver as well as three world titles during their career.The duo pushe...